Just in case you’re wondering whether LeBron James is really the king of the NBA – at least in terms of social media and popular buzz – all you have to do is take a look at Facebook. You might agree with LeBron’s claim that he’s the best player in the world, and you might not. But if you were one of the NBA betting fans or people talking about that claim on Facebook – or any other aspect of LeBron’s game – then you were far from alone.
During the 2015 playoffs, the research team at Facebook pored over millions of posts, comments and likes to build a Conversation Map, and they compared mentions of LeBron James to those of Stephen Curry from the Golden State Warriors. As one might expect, James definitely came out on top – even though the Warriors would walk away with the NBA title.
During the playoffs, 26 million people using Facebook put up more than 165 million posts, likes and comments about the Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers. James dominated conversations in the East and South. In 19 states, James was mentioned more often than Curry in every county. Curry is the reigning MVP in the league, but more people are talking about LeBron James.
So how can you explain this gap between these two? James appeared in his fifth straight NBA Finals, while the Warriors have not won an NBA title since 1975. James has been the league’s MVP four times in the last seven seasons, and James’ jersey has been the league’s most popular seller since 2009. Curry does play in California, but James has played in both Cleveland and Miami – and been the subject of free agency rumors just about everywhere else.
Of course, not all of the traffic about James is positive. While LeBron does receive a lot more plaudits than Curry, he also receives a lot more criticism. Remember when the air conditioning went out in San Antonio and James cramped up and couldn’t play, even though everyone else could? Remember when the Heat curiously folded against the Dallas Mavericks in the 2011 Finals? Remember when LeBron stood on the court and watched his team lose to the Boston Celtics in 2010? You might not, but the legions of LeBron doubters do, and they put up memes about him all the time. Of course, LeBron does give his critics plenty of ammunition. He came out and said that he was the best player in the world during the playoffs. Shortly after the Finals ended this year, he talked about how he had spent so much time undermining Cavaliers coach David Blatt, leading to a situation in which it’s likely that either the superstar or the coach will have to leave. That’s going to be a shame, given how close the Cavs are to winning a league championship.
The stars in professional sports leagues have always been a little bit larger than life. However, thanks to the social media age, they now can appear constantly on our feeds and spend even more time on our minds. As the Facebook traffic during the 2015 NBA playoffs showed, it’s clear that LeBron is on the minds of the nation – and it’s also clear that he will continue to do so, no matter where he takes his talents next.
